Higher Law, Higher Love
A precocious middle-school student asked a soldier visiting her class what he would do if he were ordered to do something wrong. Then she made it personal. “What if they told you to shoot innocent people?”
our moral compass
What is a minute? Simply a measurement of time. There are 60 in an hour, 1,440 in a day. But during those 60 clicks of the second hand, a tidal wave of thoughts with their accompanying emotional responses can sweep over you. Today, during one particular minute, a feeling of dread hit me hard. Why? I was deeply afraid that I’d done something wrong.
apathetic
In December 2011, USA Today ran an article that analyzed a group of Americans called the “spiritually apathetic.” Their attitude could be summed up as: “So what?” The article presented the following sad statistics:
reverent fear
The ocean was churning. Massive waves were causing the huge vessel to list from side to side. As I stood and looked out a window, I was amazed at the power and fury of the storm. The beating of the raindrops on the metal deck matched the rapid beating of my heart as the ship was buffeted by fierce elements.
clear conscience
During a 1923 maneuvering exercise, Lieutenant Commander Donald T. Hunter, an experienced navigator and instructor at the Naval Academy, navigated the USS Delphy. The Delphy was the flagship among several naval destroyers. During the exercise, a thick cloak of fog descended on the ships. After several communication attempts, Hunter could not get an accurate read on his location.
unexpected blessings
It’s likely we’ve read Jesus’ Beatitudes as a list of virtues— attitudes and actions that He wants us to pursue. So, we think, He wants us to be humble (Matthew 5:5), merciful (Matthew 5:7), pure in heart (Matthew 5:8), and peaceful (Matthew 5:9).
clean conscience
According to a 2008 character survey of nearly 30,000 high school students, 64 percent of them said they had cheated on a test in the past year, 30 percent had stolen from a store, 42 percent said they would lie to save money, and 83 percent said they had lied to their parents about something significant. One of the more interesting findings of the survey was that 93 percent of the students surveyed said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character. These students seem to have a clear case of what the Bible calls a “corrupted” conscience (Titus 1:15).
clear conscience
A man consulted a doctor, “I’ve been misbehaving, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me,” he complained. “And you want something that will strengthen your willpower?” asked the doctor. “Well, no,” said the fellow. “I was thinking of something that would weaken my conscience.”
Sometimes we might feel that our conscience is more like a nuisance than a much-needed guide.…
watching over the weak
1 Corinthians 8:9-13: But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? So because of your superior knowledge,…
clear conscience
The previous owner of our house purchased an invisible fence to keep their dog from running into the street. The “fence” is comprised of a wire buried just beneath the surface of the ground, extending around the perimeter of the yard. When the dog approached the wire, the special collar he wore would start beeping, warning him that the end…
universal problem
In his book Human Universals, anthropologist Donald Brown lists over 400 human behaviors common across all cultures. Some of his findings are touching: All cultures have toys, jokes, dances, and proverbs; they have music, poetry, tickling, and thumb-sucking; the people of each culture develop languages, take names, are wary of snakes, and tie things with string!
Likewise, Brown discovered a…
